April 4, 2017

Why Do Walmart and Target Have Their Own Digital Forensics Labs?

Walmart is one of six companies in the United States that run digital-forensics laboratories accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. American Express has an accredited lab; Target has two of them.

Those companies—and many others that operate labs without formal accreditation—have built up digital-forensics capabilities once limited to law enforcement. They have the tools and the know-how to investigate corporate theft and online fraud, or track a data breach to its source. That might involve extracting information from a locked, encrypted smartphone, or a damaged computer hard drive. Or it could entail analyzing network activity to figure out which employee, for example, is siphoning off sensitive data to sell on the black market.

Fascinating article about private enterprise developing its own digital forensic capabilities to thwart crime in their businesses.

Perhaps the most surprising detail comes in the final paragraph: Target revealed that a quarter of the digital forensic work they do was unrelated to the company itself in 2008.

Seems a golden business opportunity. Train up and gain accreditation, then contract digital forensics services to smaller companies that have a need, but cannot afford the infrastructure.